The admission of being a survivor of domestic abuse is very powerful, but the rest of the story has already been told in the first book. But Lady Glenconner’s storytelling ability is one that keeps your attention and I found I finished the book in a few days. At one book event in Norwich, the interviewer said she was struck by how I sat straight and didn’t lounge.

Anne brings her stark forthrightness, signature charm and bravery to show the world what her life has taught her, including when she endured the darkest moments of her marriage. To sum up, it is an audiobook turned into a book, more like a storyteller being recorded in writing, and it was such an uplifting most of it. She simply concentrated on getting through it knowing that afterwards it would never seem as important or terrible as it had at the time. On the other hand it did not seem so much fun to read, although her courage and positive attitude in both accounts are inspiring.

Obviously, most people don't have the resources to do this even if they wanted to, and Anne is aware of her "luck" in this regard. We had a lovely time with Whatever Next- first I read the story to Miles, then we read it again with his dad there too and Miles loved telling him what was happening and showing him the animals. Friends mean well, but they tend to sympathize and tell you you're right to be so upset and egg you on to feel wronged.

I felt bad for Princess Margaret when Anne wrote of how the press had to set up a "bad sister" to play against the Queen as "good sister.The eldest daughter of the 5th Earl of Leicester, she grew up at Holkham Hall in Norfolk and was a childhood friend of the late Queen and Princess Margaret and a maid of honour at the Queen’s coronation. Lady Glenconner has suffered more than her fair share of tragedy – her eldest son died of heroin addiction, the second of Aids, and the third was involved in a terrible motorbike crash that left him with serious head injuries. Her duties included warning their hosts what the Princess liked – plain food, gin and tonic before lunch, whisky and water in the evening, and don’t try to light her cigarettes because she preferred to do it herself. There are two silly contradictions which I think the editor should have picked up on: first that in her first book she said she never laughed so much with anyone as she did with Princess Margaret whereas in this book she says the same thing about her friend (who was also her husband’s cousin) Susanna Johnston.

If the author came out with another book I will definitely read it and I will definitely recommend it to others.

Glenconner has lived through a lot; an abusive marriage and the deaths of her two oldest children, followed by a terrible accident and near-death of the third child. She was the most wonderful friend to me, because she saw all this [the trouble with Colin] going on. Yes, they did and if the footman carried raw eggs in a bain-marie from the kitchen to the nursery, it was so far, they were boiled on arrival. We all think that the aristocracy have a wonderful life, swanning about, and while they do have riches that most of us cannot imagine, their lives are no more fulfilling than the poorest of us in some respects.

covers some of the same ground as Lady in Waiting, but the tone is much darker, especially about her marriage to Colin Tennant. Some letters are forwarded to me by my publisher, but quite often they come addressed to ‘Lady Glenconner, The Farmhouse, Norfolk.She married Colin Tennant, later Lord Glenconner and the owner of Mustique, an island in the West Indies, in 1956. This is very sad, but I'll admit I had to laugh when I read it :) Who can believe the things some people do? This account of her life could have been so much deeper and more powerful, but it came across as being rather rehearsed and shallow.